Random Rants: Thoughts on Weekend Fights

There was so much MMA action from this past weekend that I am still catching up. The problem though is that this sport never stops. There really is little time to play catchup because each day brings a whole new list of to-dos.

I’ll start with Alvarez vs. Dida. I felt it was a great match and I was really impressed with Alvarez’s performance. It was kind of strange seeing Alvarez fight as such a light weight. I don’t remember seeing him that small before but he looked good. Alvarez showed some very good wrestling skill in the fight and his takedowns were solid. He also showed a strong chin in that he took several big shots from Dida and was able to maintain.

It wasn’t a flawless performance though as I felt he missed some opportunities to execute an armbar and a couple of rear naked chokes. Alvarez’s punching was solid but not quite as accurate as it normally is. There really aren’t many fighters with better technical boxing than Alvarez so I hold him to a different standard.

All in all though, it was a great lightweight debut for Alvarez and he definitely has a huge future at 155-160 lbs. It was a strong win against a a top guy in Dida.